Responding to overwhelming popular demand, Chandos is releasing Verdi and Variations as a 12” LP for the first time. This new venture is Chandos’ first LP production in many years. The works on the record are performed by Canadian ensemble I Musici de Montreal under the direction of the late, lamented Yuli Turovsky. Despite Giuseppi Verdi’s curt dismissal of his one and only chamber work as of ‘no importance’, it nevertheless received a fantastic reception at its premier and was hailed as a masterpiece. The present recording is a string orchestra arrangement by Yuli Turovsky. The other two works represent two composer’s unique takes on Verdi’s music. Antonio Pasculli’s Grand Concerto on Themes from Verdi’s I vespri siciliani was designed to showcase the composer’s considerable virtuosity as an oboist; it is here played by Philippe Magnan. Marc-Oliver Dupin’s Fantasia on Arias from La Traviata (1995), revisits the ‘fantasy’ genre in a set of six contrasting and highly entertaining variations.